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Plastic needs to be polished, how do I do it?

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Old 09-12-2000, 01:51 AM
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Car: 86 Trans Am, 88 Formula
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Plastic needs to be polished, how do I do it?

After we installed my new spoiler, we were using this acetone paint thinner to remove overspray from the tail lights. The previous owner had the car painted and there was maroon paint on the tail lights.
The Acetone thinner seemed to eat the outer layer of the plastic leaving this white film. There was an article here a few months ago, but I can't find it. I really need to get this repaired, it just makes the car look ugly from the rear. The center piece between teh lights with the bird and pontiac on it is also messed up.

Thanks guys.

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Old 09-12-2000, 02:14 AM
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That's not just a film, the acetone's actually etched the plastic. You might be able to fix it acceptably with a denim buffer wheel and a small amount of buffing compound.
Old 09-12-2000, 08:23 AM
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You will have to sand it some before you start to buff. I would start with a 320 to 400 grit, then go to 600 and finish with 800. I would recomend wet/dry paper and sand everything wet. Then clean it up with a buffing wheel and some plastic or polishing compound that is the equivalent of 2000 grit.

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Old 09-12-2000, 10:35 AM
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Chrome polish actually works well to polish plastic to a decent finish. To get it one step better after you use the chrome polish, you can use one of the commercially available plastic polishes. The stuff I tried is Blue corral or Blue *something*. As stated above, if it's bad enough you may need to start off with sandpaper. My tail lights looked good but weren't shiny, but the plastic polish really brough out a shine.

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Old 09-13-2000, 12:01 AM
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Thanks guys, I really appreciate the tips.
I'll let you know how it goes. Probably have time this weekend, hopefully.
Old 09-16-2000, 05:58 PM
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Yep,

Sand first, if it's deep.

I made a bonhead move with an aerosol paint stripper, and had some resultant pits in my tailights. Began with 300, up to 600, then used 3M micro, and glaze compounds. Good as new.



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Old 10-12-2001, 04:34 PM
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Guys, how do you use the compound, its freakin Crayola.....

????
PLEASE GET BACK ASAP
3.30 MINUTES cOUNTING DOWN

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Old 10-12-2001, 05:38 PM
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I've used mothers aluminum polish with good results. pretty much any polish, be it for paint or chrome or whatever will work. Heck, even toothpaste works, as long as there are some small semi-abrasive particles in whatever you use it'll buff it to a great finish.

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Old 10-12-2001, 10:51 PM
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toothpaste....
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